Work's usual routine was broken today with a Good-Bye Pot-luck & BBQ over in the
picnic area by the Rec Center - six people are leaving, so instead of a
luncheon... cloudy, but it didn't rain. Met some of the new people, including a charming French girl <1> who's
just here for a year. The turnover is due to a big contract shift on-base from
Stirling to Raytheon. Personally I'm not affected. The actual job's going well;
the impossible task I was kvetching about earlier
has been split into two components. The hard part will probably be tabled,
and I finished checking in my fix for the easy part just before I rode my bike
home <2> .
Truman Show:
A film of that allegorical variant of science fiction
like "The Stepford Wives", where the "how" of the central fiction
isn't meant to be considered so much as the "what" of the resulting
situation <3>. I enjoy this movie's specific concept (in fact it's a near copy of
a favorite "Twilight Zone": "A World Of Difference" <4>).
In these stories the protagonist gradually discovers his world is synthetic and he's trapped
there, like "The Prisoner" or Ragle Gumm in Philip K. Dick's Time Out
Of Joint. That episode of "Mission: Impossible" ("Encore") where William Shatner's convinced
that he's been thrown back in time also comes to mind. I'm rather baffled by the critics' lavish
praise, as if there's some message or Big Meaning in this film.
Some "Truman" clippings.
In today's "Post", Miss Manners addresses the topic of people who use
bulk email to forward jokes.
"There has always been an etiquette rule against grabbing people's attention for the purpose of boring them, whatever means one uses to do this." <5>Her polite solution: just delete them. I have sometimes requested of those that do to knock it off, the unfortunate result being I no longer get any email from them. Personalized is always fine, it's this broadcast stuff that can be unwelcome.